My invention relates generally to apparatus for cleansing parts of the body with a stream of medicated liquid, and more particularly to apparatus for irrigating and cleansing the vaginal cavity, which apparatus can be simply used in a conventional shower stall.
Various forms of apparatus for irrigating and cleansing the vaginal cavity with a medicated liquid are well known. In particular such apparatus designed for attachment to a shower head has been suggested as is apparent from U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,461,870; 3,512,525; 3,817,247 and 3,847,150. By attachment to a shower head, the user can easily adjust the temperature and pressure of the discharged liquid to the user's comfort and the liquid after use conveniently disappears into the shower drain.
However, so far as I am aware, all prior apparatus providing an antiseptic or medicated cleansing liquid requires the insertion of a cartridge of the medicant into the passageway leading to the nozzle of the apparatus, whereby the solid medicant is dissolved by water flowing through the medicant. This has the disadvantages of an ever changing concentration of medicant in the liquid delivered to the nozzle, frequent dissasembly of the apparatus to insert new medicated cartridges, and the expense of the cartridges themselves. Moreover, prior apparatus is both complicated and expensive to manufacture.
As opposed to hygienic apparatus which uses a solid cartridge to supply the antiseptic or medicant to the stream of liquid, my apparatus uses inexpensive liquids such as household vinegar. To properly mix the liquid medicant with water flowing from the shower pipe, my apparatus employs a unique mixing chamber whose forward end is sealed by the swivelable ball-shaped rear end of the dispensing nozzle.
Simply put, my apparatus includes a control valve assembly which is connected between a water supply pipe and a conventional shower head. A flexible tube or hose preferably made of 1/4 inch diameter clear plastic material has one of its ends connected to the control valve through a restricted orifice of about 0.05 inches in diameter. The other end of the flexible tubing is contained within an elongated cylindrical mixing chamber. The forward end of the tubing terminates near the forward end of the mixing chamber and a small hole about 1/16th of an inch in diameter is punched into the wall of the tubing a short distance from the tubing's terminal end and lying near the rear end of the mixing chamber.
To prepare the apparatus for use, the dispensing nozzle is pulled out of the forward end of the mixing chamber. Holding the mixing chamber in a vertical position with its forward end uppermost, the desired liquid medicant or antiseptic such as vinegar is poured into the mixing chamber and then the chamber is sealed by reinsertion of the ball-shaped end of the dispensing nozzle.
By adjusting the shower faucet and opening the control valve, water at the desired temperature and pressure will flow through the restricted orifice and into the flexible tubing. A portion of the stream of water will be diverted through the 1/16th inch hole in the tubing to agitate the liquid medicant in the mixing chamber and blend with the water being fed into the dispensing nozzle from the terminal end of the flexible tube. Thus a cleansing stream of medicated water will be discharged from the dispensing nozzle at the desired temperature and pressure. The medicated stream will last from one to one and a half minutes before the supply of medicant has been exhausted.